Transcript of "(PPT)"

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Elderly Fall Statistics <ul><li>16,000 elderly Americans die from falling each year (CDC, 2005) </li></ul><ul><li>300,000 elderly Americans have hip fractures each year </li></ul><ul><li>90% of hip fractures result from falls </li></ul><ul><li>24% of elderly Americans who suffer hip fractures die within one year </li></ul><ul><li>40% of elderly women with hip fractures never walk unassisted again (National Osteoporosis Foundation) </li></ul>

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Camera Positioning <ul><li>Privacy is a major concern </li></ul><ul><li>Gaining maximal coverage from camera position is also critical </li></ul><ul><li>A balance between these two must be achieved </li></ul>

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Algorithm Overview <ul><li>Identify the region of an image occupied by the person </li></ul><ul><li>Ascertain the velocity of the person’s motion </li></ul><ul><li>Fit an ellipse to the person </li></ul><ul><li>Analyze the changes in the ellipses’ properties </li></ul><ul><li>Determine if a fall has occurred </li></ul>

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Foreground Segmentation <ul><li>The background of every frame is subtracted </li></ul><ul><li>Statistical Gaussian model is generated for each pixel </li></ul><ul><li>HSV color space is used to minimize shadow effect </li></ul><ul><li>Pixels are labeled as either foreground or background based on a preset threshold </li></ul><ul><li>A binary foreground image is thus generated </li></ul>

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Largest Blob Detection <ul><li>Additional filtering is performed on the foreground-segmented image </li></ul><ul><li>The largest continuous cluster of pixels is detected and then isolated from the smaller clusters of noise </li></ul>

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Call for Assistance <ul><li>Computer connected to Ethernet network </li></ul><ul><li>When fall happens a picture is taken </li></ul><ul><li>A fuzzy picture is stored to a local server </li></ul><ul><li>An updating intranet page is displayed at the nurse station </li></ul><ul><li>The page incorporates archiving features </li></ul><ul><li>Nurse analyzes picture and determines if a response is necessary </li></ul>

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Call for Assistance UI Page refreshes every 5 seconds to check for screenshot on the server

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Call for Assistance UI When a fall occurs a flashing red message along with a screenshot is displayed

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Archiving Falls <ul><li>The shot can be archived with a date stamp onto the local server </li></ul><ul><li>The detected fall log shows a queue of falls that happened </li></ul><ul><li>On archiving and reloading the system shows normal status again </li></ul>

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Problems and Solutions <ul><li>Hardware and Software Problems: </li></ul><ul><ul><li>MATLAB requires substantial memory to execute programs </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Algorithm has difficulty accounting for auto-light adjustments by the webcam </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Solutions Proposed: </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Port existing algorithm to C++ in order to run it more efficiently; using C++ also removes the licensing hassles required with MATLAB </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Light intensity can be normalized with histogram equalization techniques; alternatively use a webcam without light adjustment </li></ul></ul>

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Real-Time Analysis <ul><li>Existing Problems: </li></ul><ul><ul><li>MATLAB is incapable of running threaded applications </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Analysis and recording of video simultaneously is almost impossible as a result </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Solution: </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Use C++; Supports threading and memory management </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Real time analysis is available via OpenCV library </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Many MATLAB functions are implemented in the library </li></ul></ul>

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Privacy Concerns <ul><li>Use of cameras brings in a major privacy concern </li></ul><ul><li>Different configurations are necessary for concealment </li></ul><ul><li>Terms & Conditions have to be included in hospital paperwork </li></ul><ul><li>The picture taken of the patient upon a fall is blurred </li></ul><ul><li>An option of not having the system on should be implemented if requested by the patient </li></ul>

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Cost Analysis <ul><li>Assuming a rate of $28/hr, Engineer salaries would amount to $44,800 for 4 engineers during a 10 week development phase </li></ul><ul><li>Equipment Cost: </li></ul><ul><ul><li>$60 for two cameras </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>$270 for a modern Dell Inspiron 530 </li></ul></ul><ul><li>$170 Installation and Software Costs </li></ul><ul><li>Total Cost per Room = $500 </li></ul>

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Future Improvements <ul><li>Enable support for multiple people </li></ul><ul><li>Improve speed of algorithm </li></ul><ul><li>Reduce false positives by making a self-learning system </li></ul><ul><li>Make the program standalone for easy deployment </li></ul><ul><li>Enable mainframe support for hospital with servers </li></ul>